Archive for July, 2011

Al Spalding and Ross Barnes wouldn’t be considered as suckers for much longer.

Cincinnati Daily Gazette 7/26/1869

When Harry Wright took over the Boston club which entered the professional National Association in 1871, the Cincinnati team nickname – Red Stockings – was extended to his new club. After facing stiff competition in their home state of Ohio from Forest City for several years, Wright grabbed the heart of the team for his new Boston entry – Spalding and Barnes. He also took Fred Cone.

First meeting between Boston and Forest City – 1871: (Note Forest City’s aquisition of young Adrian Anson)

Cincinnati Daily Gazette 6/2/1871

Edgar McNabb

Edgar J. McNabb, a righthanded pitcher, was signed by the Baltimore Orioles for the 1893 season. He had played on the west coast in 1892. Records list a “Pete McNabb” pitching for Portland in the Pacific Northwest League and then for Los Angeles after the PNL folded. This may be him since Edgar McNabb supposedly pitched for Los Angeles at the end of 1892. 

Either way, McNabb made his major league debut on May 12, 1893. He was released on August 11 after pitching in his 21^st game that day. He signed on with Grand Rapids. McNabb also worked as a telegraph operator for the Santa Fe Railroad in Kansas City. 

Louise Kellogg

Louise Kellogg went by three names:

Birth name: Louise Louis

Stage name: Louis Kellogg (stemming from famed opera singer Clara Louise Kellogg)

Marriage name: Mr. William Elmer Rockwell 

She was a pretty, blonde stage actress, at one time working with the Alvin Joslyn Theatrical Company. 

William Elmer Rockwell 

W.E. Rockwell, called Elmer, was born in Illinois circa 1856 to Alfred and Martha Rockwell. In 1876 he lived in Keithsburg, Illinois, a small town on the Mississippi River. There, he pitched for the local team, Ictorias. His catcher was 16-year-old future Hall of Famer Bid McPhee. Both were signed by Davenport of the Northwest League for the 1877 season. Rockwell later described the incident which turned McPhee into a second baseman. McPhee took a foul tip to the nose, breaking it in the days before catcher’s gear. After that, he became an infielder. Still playing ball in 1880, Rockwell listed his occupation in that year’s Census as a “baseballist.” 

Eventually, Rockwell made his residence to Seattle where he settled. He found a job a manager at the Union Ice Company. 

Newspapers accounts at the time of the McNabb incident in 1894 listed Rockwell as either the president of the Pacific Northwest League or of the California League. In truth, the Pacific Northwest League folded during the 1892 season and did not operate in either 1893 or ’94. The California League as well folded after the 1893 season and would not operate again until 1898. Rockwell was not the president of either league in 1892 or ’93. 

The confusion may lie in the fact that Rockwell was actually an organizer in Washington and California from the mid to late 1890s. He may very well have tried to organize a California League for 1894 but the effort wasn’t successful as we view things today. 

As a side note, Washington ice entrepreneur W.B. Bushnell started the Tacoma Ice and Refrigeration Company and a similarly named company in Seattle. In 1891 he purchased the Union Ice Company which was managed by Rockwell. Bushnell was the president of the 1892 Pacific Northwest League mentioned above. 

February 28, 1894 

Rockwell and Kellogg were having troubles in their marriage so they separated. McNabb, a resident of California, and Kellogg initiated an affair. Letters found at the time of the latter two’s death indicate that Kellogg was financially supporting McNabb over the winter of 1893-94. 

On the afternoon or early evening of February 28, 1894 Kellogg arrived in Pittsburgh (her parents lived in Braddock not far from the city) from New York City. She had asked McNabb to meet her on Fifth Avenue. He had secured a room earlier in the day at the Hotel Eiffel at 508 Smithfield Street, registering as Mr. and Mrs. E.J. McNabb. They had plans to meet up with Louis Gillen, a friend, to attend the theater that night.

 After the couple met on Fifth Avenue, Kellogg announced her intention to break up with McNabb. She told him that she cared for someone else, probably considering reconciling with her husband. The couple then made their way to the Eiffel Hotel. Shortly, after entering the room, McNabb pulled out a gun.

 The shots were not heard. A fire near the hotel had drawn all the attention of guests. Gillen got stood up so he went to the hotel looking for the couple. Arriving at the room at about 8:30 pm, he heard Kellogg groaning. He retrieved the police – City Hall was just across the street – who busted in the room. 

They found a bloody mess. Kellogg was lying on the floor with three shots to her head and neck. McNabb was next to her dead from two shots to the head. She was taken to the Homeopathic Hospital.

 The following day Kellogg was not doing well. She had a 105 degree temperature and was growing weaker by the hour. Doctors gave her only hours to live, perhaps 72. They could not operate considering one of the bullets was lodged against her spine. She was paralyzed but could speak, asking for her husband who was contacted and was en route from California. 

At about midnight Kellogg slipped into unconsciousness. She died at 4:40 am on March 2. McNabb was shipped to Mount Vernon, Ohio that day an interred at Mound View Cemetery.

The Philadelphia Bobbies

Young Women Stranded Abroad, Hungary and Destitute, Abandoned by Escorts

The Philadelphia Bobbies were one of the leading female clubs of the 1920s and early 1930s. They derived their name from the gimmick of wearing their hair in a bob cut. The era proved to be the end of the Bloomer Girl heyday. Thereafter, the interest in female baseball languished until the All-American League was formed during the Second World War.

Philadelphia had an array of factory clubs for women, and even leagues. The Bobbies, hailed as champions of 1925, included nonworking young women of various ages. The Bobbies also fielded a popular basketball club during the winters.

To capitalize on their recent success, a traveling baseball tour of the country was organized after the 1925 season, a prelude to a jaunt to Japan to showcase their skills. There, they would play against male clubs, mainly college nines. By this time in history, American ballplayers had been traveling to Japan for decades. Likewise, Japanese clubs made the trip across the Pacific Ocean. By the mid 1910s, a Japanese ballplayer was even playing professionally in the States.

Eddie Ainsmith

To lead the Bobbies to the Orient, Walter Johnson’s former catcher Eddie Ainsmith was chosen to help market the troupe. Besides being the battery mate of one of the top pitchers of all-time, Ainsmith is known as the first man to test the draft status of ballplayers during World War I. He first joined the majors in 1910 and stuck through 1924, mainly in a part-time role. In 1925, the Russian-born Ainsmith worked in the American Association for Minneapolis.

Ainsmith’s first experience in Japan took place after the 1920 season with a group of American and National Leaguers. The tour proved successful, initially organized by Buck Weaver and Gene Doyle in conjunction with Yumito Kushibiki, “the biggest sport promoter in Nippon.” The success of the trip – the men reportedly earned $830 each above costs – and other forays to the Orient suggested to Ainsmith that the Bobbies’ tour had potential.

Earl Hamilton

Herb Hunter, a member of the 1920-1921 tour, headed back to Tokyo after the 1921 season to coach university clubs. The following year, he took another group of Americans on a barnstorming trip in Japan. Another was scheduled after the 1923 season but it was cancelled in wake of a massive earthquake in September in Tokyo. Instead, Hunter’s troupe, which included Ainsmith, traipsed through Eastern Canada. Ainsmith, who was nearing the end of his playing days, saw Hunter’s inventiveness and wanted to carve out a niche for himself.

Ainsmith invited Minneapolis teammate Earl Hamilton, a pitcher who had performed in the majors from age 19 to 32, leaving in May 1924. A lefthander, Hamilton won 115 games over 14 years split between the American and National Leagues. He would actually have his finest pro season in 1926, going 24-8 for Los Angeles in the Pacific Coast League.

The Bobbies, ranging in age from 13 to 25, were administered by 27-year-old Mary O’Gara who acted as the girls’ manager and chaperone (she may have also played). The team itself included:

• Edith Houghton, 13, shortstop
• Ferba Garnett, 14
• Jennie Phillips, 15
• Loretta Jester (Jaszezak), 17
• Leona Kearns, 17, 6’ lefthanded pitcher
• Annie Gans, 18
• Alma Nolan, 19
• Florence Eakin, 20
• Sara Conlin, 20
• Nellie Shanks, 20
• Edith Ruth, 21
• Agnes Curran, 25

In total, the party included 17 members including Ainsmith and Hamilton’s wives, Loretta and Edna, respectively. The group left Philadelphia on September 23, playing their way to Seattle from whose port they would depart for Japan. Along the way, games were set in Fargo North Dakota, Glasgow, Great Falls and White Fish, Montana, Spokane, Wenatchee, Everett, Tacoma and Seattle, Washington.

The Bobbies left Seattle aboard the American-Oriental mail liner President Jefferson on October 6. The first class fares were provided by a consortium of three Japanese sports promoters. Gate receipts in Japan were expected to pay for the lodgings, meals, return fare and, hopefully, a profit to be split among the party. The girls had been lured with the promise of a potential payday, $500 was mentioned. The tour was expected to last three weeks.

The Bobbies landed in Yokohama harbor to a warm reception. Present were a slew of reporters and representatives of the various university clubs they were set to compete against. The promoters met the party at the Tokyo train station, passing out flowers amid a welcome banner. They were then transported via rickshaw to the newly-erected Marunouchi Hotel, a western-style facility. One report suggests they met the 24-year-old Hirohito who in a year would become Emperor of Japan.

Leona Kearns far left next to Ainsmith

The first contest was a grand affair with the promoters showing their enthusiasm for the endeavor. Over 20,000 eyed the festivities. Ten games were played with reasonable success. However, enthusiasm soon waned amid cold weather. By early November, the girls performed in Kyoto and then Kobe but they didn’t fare well, racking up the losses. Even with Hamilton and Ainsmith acting as the battery fortunes did not changed. Soon thereafter, two of the promoters dropped out, nowhere to be found. The third declared himself to be bankrupt. Bills started to pile up.

Loretta Jester

This is not totally without precedent in baseball history. Ballplayers had been stranded without cash since the earliest days of the game, even major leaguers. At times during the 19^th century, owners cut men loose on the road without finances. Whole teams have even had to fend for themselves more often than one might suspect. It happened in the minors; it happened more often in black baseball. It also happened at various times, in various places in Latin America. The Global League  is but one example.

The Ainsmith party naturally became very concerned. It now became an issue of survival – lodging and sustenance – and perhaps more frightening the need for return fare back to the States. On November 13, O’Gara and the girls made a stand, confronting Ainsmith and refusing to take the field again without securing some funds for passage back home.

Leona Kearns

Ainsmith’s plan was to dig himself even deeper into Asia. He wanted to head to Korea where, hopefully, fortunes would change. O’Gara wanted nothing to do with it; she was deeply concerned and desperately wanted to go home. Kobe hotelkeeper Henry Sanborn took pity on the girls and provided lodging for them at his Pleasanton Hotel. He also petitioned the United States consul in Kobe for assistance with little to show for it. At this point, a British-Indian banker named Mody, a guest at the Pleasanton, stepped in and provided the girls with return fare all the way to Philadelphia gratis. The cost was in the neighborhood of $6000.

Edith Houghton

Mody was a godsend. He saved the girls from a potentially disastrous ending. Yet, there still was one. Ainsmith convinced three girls – Leona Kearns, Edith Ruth and Nellie Shanks – to head to Seoul with him. Off the three girls and the Ainsmiths and Hamiltons went with four Japanese ballplayers in tow to complete the nine. O’Gara’s group hopped on the next vessel out of Hong Kong and landed soundly in Vancouver on December 1, and then in Philadelphia on the 6th. Why O’Gara permitted the three girls to go on without the group is hard to comprehend. Her onus would seem to be with the parents of the ballplayers. Shanks and Ruth were in their 20s but Kearns was only 17 years old.

Unsuccessful in Seoul, Ainsmith and crew headed back to Kobe in early December. They sought police help in securing funds from the promoters but failed. Sanborn stepped in yet again and housed the ballplayers. The Hamilton called it quits and left Kobe on December 13, arriving in San Francisco on the 30^th. Unable to secure enough cash for the girls, the Ainsmiths decided to just ditch the girls, leaving them to fend for themselves. They departed from Kobe harbor on December 27, arriving in San Francisco on January 13.

Sanborn continued to raise money for the girls, including organizing a benefit dance. Meanwhile, the Kearns family sent $300 for a second-class ticket home. The funds proved sufficient and the girls board the Empress Of Asia. Outside Shanghai on January 11, the ship collided with another. The other vessel, the Tungshing, sank and ten people died. The Empress returned to the harbor for brief repairs and then setoff once again. The three Bobbies boarded it sometime around the 17^th of the month.

It soon “encountered a violent and massive storm that … battered the ship from Yokohama to Vancouver Island.” The heavy winds relegated the passengers to the lower decks for days at a time. After being penned up, Leona Kearns, unsupervised, entered the top deck on the 21^st and began running around jubilantly, despite being warned against the recklessness. Nellie Shank, feeling seasick, also went on deck to get some air. Edith Ruth sat indoors in the tea parlor. A massive wave rose, Kearns saw it and screamed for Shank to take cover. The wave cracked on deck and both girls were sent flying. Shank, bruised and battered, was discovered safe clinging to a rail. Kearns was nowhere to be found.

The ship circled the area for an hour but the 17-year-old wasn’t found. Her father met the ship in Vancouver when it arrived on January 29. From the manifest:

One newspaper declared, “Ainsmith is not being criticized for his conduct in Japan, but for his lack of business foresight in bringing the Bobbies so far home without adequate financial guarantees.” That was the synopsis before he ditched Kearns and her two friends. No further contemporary criticism was found. It’s hard to imagine that not one of the Hamiltons, Ainsmiths or Mary O’Gara was brought to account for the debacle which led to the neglect of the teenager Kearns. Ainsmith later oversaw another female club, the Rockford Peaches of the All-American Girls Baseball League.

Edith Houghton

Edith Houghton was 10 years old when she joined the Bobbies in 1922. After the disastrous trip abroad, Houghton left the Bobbies and joined the New York Bloomer Girls, perhaps the top team of the era, run by Margaret Nabel. She played with them through 1931 and also in that year toiled for the Hollywood Girls. With interest in Bloomer Girl teams diminished, Houghton “reluctantly” turned to softball.

During WWII, she joined the Navy Women’s Auxiliary Unit, the WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service), playing for their baseball team. She returned home after the war and on Valentine’s Day, February 14, 1946, Philadelphia Phillies owner Bob Carpenter announced the signing of Houghton to scout for the club. She scouted for the Phillies until being called up by the Navy during the Korean War.

New Orleans Times-Picayune 2/15/1946

At the time she was hailed by some as the first female major league baseball scout but that honor goes to Bessie Largent, who had been doing so with her husband, Roy, for years.

SOURCE LIST

• Americancomesalive.com
• Ancestry.com
• Baseball-reference.com
• Bradford Era, Pennsylvania, 7 December 1925
• Bridgeport Telegram, Connecticut, 13 March 1926
• Dallas Morning News, 30 December, 1920
• Gregorich, Barbara, “Stranded,” The North American Review, May/August 1998, page 4
• Helena Independent, Montana, 23 January 1926
• Indiana Evening Gazette, Pennsylvania, 23 December 1925
• Kokomo Tribune, Indiana, 25 December 1925
• Lethbridge Herald, Albert, Canada, 1 December 1925
• New Orleans Times-Picayune, 15 February 1946
• Oakland Tribune, 28 January 1926
• Nowlin, Bill, “Herb Hunter,” SABR Biography Project
• Portland Oregonian, 1 August 1920
• Reaves, Joseph A. Taking in a Game: A History of Baseball in Asia. Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, 2002.
• Seattle Daily Times, 4 October 1925, 7 October 1925, 23 January 1926
• Trenton Evening Times, New Jersey, 13 August 1925
• Washington Post, 9 September 1925, 24 September 1925
• Waterloo Evening Courier, Iowa, 2 January 1926

Hornsby gave the sign

Bases loaded: Gehrig, Meusel and Combs abound

Up a run, 2 outs, Game 7 on the line

A new man was needed on the mound

In strolled Ol’ Pete, 39 and passed his prime

The New York crowd was getting merry

So Alex took his time

In the box stood the rookie Lazzeri

Alex seemed tired, hungover and unsteady

3 warmups were all he could manage

But with 2 wins under his belt already

The Cards hoped for no more damage

First a curve off the plate, a strike and a long foul down the line, a screaming hiss

Lazzeri brought the crowd to its feet

Next a fastball – swing and a miss

The moment belonged to Pete

Yet Alex had two more innings to apply his cunning

The game was not yet in the bag

It ended when Ruth took off running

But Hornsby was there with the tag

Catching a Ball Dropped from the Washington Monument (and other similar feats)

In Limbo, circa 1860

Work began on the Egyptian-inspired monument in 1848. Political controversies and funding issues halted construction six years later. It wasn’t until 25 years later in 1879 that crews started working again. The finishing touch, an aluminum tip serving as a lightening rod, was inserted in early December 1884. A dedication ceremony soon followed but the Washington Monument wasn’t opened to the public until October 1888. (Wikipedia.org)

Paul Hines and Crew

McLaughlin Placing Tip on Washington Monument

Hines pledged to prove McLaughlin wrong when a nice day could be had. That occurred on Friday January 9, 1885. Hines brought a few ballplayer friends:

• Phil Baker,  a relocated Philadelphian who had been playing ball and living in D.C. since at least 1880
• Sam Trott,  a local whose family lived on 6^th Street Northwest
• Ed Yewell,  a D.C. native
• Charlie Snyder, a catcher and D.C. native born circa 1856 (see below)
• John A. Ryan

Snyder in the 1880 U.S. Census:

The ball was tossed from a window approximately 500’ above ground level. It’s unclear whether the men waiting for the sphere were gloveless or not. (Baker probably wasn’t.) The task proved daunting. At times, the experienced ballplayers looked like novices as the ball bounced upwards of 10’ from their waiting hands. It wasn’t just the judging of the ball which proved troublesome, but the accelerated velocity that accrued worried the fielders. Baker proved the most adept. He got his hands on one ball but it immediately popped out. (Sporting Life 29 April 1885, Washington Post 10 January 1885)

Hines’ account – 20 years later:

Washington Post 7/1/1906

In May in Erie, Pennsylvania, a local catcher thought he’d give it a try. He succeeded in catching a ball dropped from a waterworks standpipe, but it was only half the height of the Washington Monument window. (New York Herald-Tribune 6 May 1885 pulling from Philadelphia Press)

Hines would use his connections at the monument to gain access even before it was opened to the public. He would run up and down the steps to keep in shape during the winter. (Sporting Life 16 march 1887)

Marty Sullivan and Steve Brodie

While the Boston Beaneaters of the National League were in D.C. in early April before the season opened, several players hopped over to the Washington Monument for an attempt. Kid Nichols, Patsy Donovan and George Hodgman (a catcher who was with the club in the preseason, ended up with Hartford) while outfielders Marty Sullivan and Steve Brodie stood below. The climbers each only brought one ball. None was caught. (Sporting Life 19 April 1890)

Sporting Life 19 April 1890

Pop Schriver

Chicago Colts manager Cap Anson made a bet with the directors of the Arlington, Virginia club that a ball could indeed be caught from the Washington Monument. He egged his players on to prove it. His catcher Pop Schriver accepted the challenge.

On August 25, 1894, Schriver and teammates Clark Griffith, Bill Hutchison, Jiggs Parrott, George Decker and Scott Stratton headed to the monument to prove their captain correct. They were accompanied by two of the Arlington directors.

Griffith and Hutchison took an elevator to the window. Griffith dropped the first ball; Schriver let it bounce to guage its path and force. His companions described him as clearly intimidated. Then, he caught the next one. (Washington Post 26 August 1894)

Washington Post 8/26/1890

Well, at least that was the story. Schriver, in fact, did not catch the ball. After missing the second one, the men were chased off the grounds. The ruse was perhaps initiated by a Post sportswriter who boasted a little too confidently – “Schriver catching it fair and square, amid the applause of the spectators.”

The deception held though; it lasted until Charlie Irwin enlightened the public – two years later.

Philadelphia Inquirer 9/6/1896

Schriver belatedly confirmed:

Sporting Life 6/12/1897

Off the topic a little…but

Cleveland Broncos (American League) centerfielder Harry Bay was arrested and paid a $25 fine for penciling his name on the Washington Monument in May 1902. (Washington Post 30 May 1902)

A False Start

Catcher Malachi Kittridge and pitcher Tom Hughes of the Washington Senators went to try the feat at the end of June 1906 but were runoff by park authorities. (Springfield (MA) Republican 27 June 1906, Washington Post 1 July 1906)

Gabby Street – The Real Deal

On August 21, 1908, Washington Senators catcher Gabby Street went to the monument to settle the matter. He was talked into it by a man named Preston Gibson who had placed a $500 wager on the matter with another man. For over twenty years, the ability to catch the ball from 500’ had been argued in barrooms, cigar shop and at the ballpark or wherever sporting men gathered. It had become a reoccurring topic among visiting clubs as they traveled to D.C. Street accepted the challenge, ready to put an end to all the bantering.

Gibson ascended to the top window and toss ten balls outward, like many had before. The problem was clear; throwing the balls outward – in order to combat the wind which might blow the ball back into the monument – often put the ball well out of reach. Gibson then started to merely drop the sphere. Street legitimately caught the third one, the 13^th overall. (New York Times 22 August 1908)

The next day the Washington Post didn’t even publish the story, besides a small acknowledgment of the deed. It seems the stunt was done in connection with the newspaper and it wanted to publish the full story and picture in the Sunday paper on the 23^rd. (Washington Post 22 August 1908)

Washington Post 8/23/1908

The Street Ball

Gabby Street was unsure what happened to the ball he caught from the Washington Monument. In August 1931 the ball was supposedly return to him by a friend. (Washington Post 29 August 1931)

However, another ball which seems more likely to be the actual ball was discovered by Preston Gibson’s son. It was inscribed: “August 21, 1908, 11:30 am – Dropped from the Washington Monument by W.J. Preston Gibson, caught by Gabby Street. 550 feet, 135 feet per second.”

Interestingly, it was a National League ball. Street’s family surmised that since he caught the 13^th ball, a box of American League balls, which includes 12, was depleted and then an extra one was pulled that happened to be from the NL. But, as a Washington Post reporter reasonably asked, where did they get a National League ball? (Washington Post 12 January 1964 and 2 August 1964)

Billy Sullivan

On August 24, 1910, Chicago White Sox catcher Billy Sullivan caught 3 of 11 ball dropped off the monument by teammates Ed Walsh and Doc White. Also present were Eddie Collins and Joe Quirk, the Senators trainer. (Washington Post 25 August 1910)

After Sullivan’s catch was announced, Sam Crawford of the Detroit Tigers boasted that he would do it with his fielder’s glove – as opposed to the catcher’s mitts Street and Sullivan used – but it doesn’t appear that Crawford followed through. (Washington Post 26 August 1910)

The Grapefruit – An Often Overblown and Misstated Story

In Daytona on March 13, 1915, Brooklyn manager Wilbert Robinson tried to catch a ball dropped from a plane at approximately 500 feet. The aviator forgot to bring a baseball, so she dropped a grapefruit from her lunch instead. Traditionally, the “grapefruit prank” has been assigned to jokesters Casey Stengel and team trainer Fred Kelly. (New York Times 14 March 1915; “Wilbert Robinson” by Alex Semchuck, SABR Biography Project)

New York Times 3/14/1915

The Sporting News 12/4/1957

The question remains – why was the oldest man on the field performing this stunt?

U.S. Airman

In June 1918, Corporal Michael Angelo Bessalo of the 819^th Aero Squadron caught a ball dropped from a plane estimated to be 700 feet above ground at Kelly Field in Texas. (Washington Post 13 June 1918)

Hank Helf and Frank Pytlak

On August 20, 1938, Cleveland Indians rookie catcher Hank Helf and the club’s starting catcher Frank Pytlak each caught a ball off the Terminal Tower in Cleveland, a drop of 708’ from the 52nd Floor.

Seattle Sunday Times 8/21/1938

New Orleans Times-Picayune 8/21/1938

Dave Coble

On May 10, 1939, Philadelphia Phillies catcher Dave Coble caught a ball dropped from the William Penn Tower in Philadelphia, 521 feet off the ground.

New York Times 5/11/1939

Joe Sprinz – Lucky to be Alive

On August 3, 1939, longtime professional and former major leaguer Joe Sprinz  made an ill-advised decision. Copycats beware; his season was over. The impact fractured his jaw in 12 places and knocked out five teeth. Sprinz was a member of the San Francisco Seals of the Pacific Coast League at the time. A lawsuit followed over who would pay for his bridge work – ball team or the exposition directors. (Seattle Daily Times 4 August 1939and 15 February 1940, Sports Illustrated 11 March 1985)

Seattle Daily Times 8/4/1939

With abandon he moves to his left and right

The leather it always seems to touch

More reflex and instinct than flight

A moment later it’s in Boog’s clutch

The Machine seems meek as a dove

On May, Perez and Bench he will dine

It wasn’t only his glove

He also hit .429

At a discussion this morning in Columbia, Maryland about Roy Campanella with Neil Lanctot and a room-full of SABR and baseball enthusiasts.

One of the points was Campanella’s dwindled status in baseball/cultural circles. Like many ballplayers, his place in cultural literacy doesn’t necessay reflect the esteem that serious baseball history fans have for him. Nonetheless, he is certainly worth exploring.

Lanctot’s portrait seems comprehensive and well worth the read. He even interviewed the police officiers on the scene during Campy’s accident. Lanctot wrote for a general audience but there are enough baseball nuggets there for the serious fan. Worth the time and expense of picking this one up. (A lot of material here for the Jackie Robinson fan as well.)